Question Questions before buying.

[TS37363]

I have questions about purchasing a travel trailer, which is imminent. Pros / cons to new or used. Whether to purchase an extended warranty, and if it’s best to get it from the dealer or a 3rd party? Also, is it advantageous to look for a dealer with many locations throughout country? Thanks!

 

[NWIP]

Extended warranty is really a personal choice influenced by one’s ability to pay for things when repairs are required. There are a lot of restrictions in what is covered, few cover everything. Dealers love to sell them as they are big moneymakers. I have had extended warranty in the past but prefer to self insure now.

 

["EZ"]

New or used? That question has about 4000 answers, all of them correct depending on YOUR situation. Since you didn't provide us any of that information it's kind of hard to be of much help. Dealers? In general are pretty lousy. Don't think that because a dealer has multiple locations that the other locations where you DIDN'T purchase your RV will welcome you with open arms when you have a problem. They won't. Extended warranties? For a pull behind camper I wouldn't even think about it. For a 45' diesel pusher with $100k worth of computers and electronics? Absolutely I would buy one. Maybe not from the dealer, depending on how expensive it was, but I would buy one.

 

[Donald Kemp]

I have real reasons for staying away from Camping World!

 

["EZ"]

I have real reasons for staying away from Camping World!

Mind sharing them with us?

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I have real reasons for staying away from Camping World!

So do many others.

 

[BatMobile]

1) Is there a hidden list of RV Dealers that are tried and true?!
2) All options BEING EQUAL, is it more beneficial to purchase local, rather than from a larger well recommend dealership?

 

[BatMobile]

I keep hearing....'we are the largest/best/....., and because of this, you will have access to our/the largest support while on the road....we are all about service service service for our customers....'

thanks, Helplessly Confused

 

[DHudson]

I have questions about purchasing a travel trailer, which is imminent. Pros / cons to new or used. Whether to purchase an extended warranty, and if it’s best to get it from the dealer or a 3rd party? Also, is it advantageous to look for a dealer with many locations throughout country? Thanks!

As far as the extended warranty goes. I was a Chevy service manager for about 35 years. IF the manufacturer offered a extended warranty, I might look at it. A lot of times, it is hard to get a straight answer out of the dealer as to is it a warranty offered by the manufacturer or someone else. Dealers like the aftermarket warranties because they make a lot more profit from them as opposed to the manufacturers extended warranty. (If they offer one).
The problem with aftermarket warranties, is that they look for ways to NOT cover a repair. Also, even though your dealer will probably say otherwise, another dealer or repair facility DOES NOT have to honor your warranty.
Also, you have no one to turn to (factory), if you have problems the dealer or repair facility is not taking care of you, or denying to fix something that should be covered.
I would shy away from a aftermarket warranty.

 

[TS37363]

Thank you for your reply and insight!

 

[FL-JOE]

I have real reasons for staying away from Camping World!

First of all, I have never purchased an RV from Camping World, nor would I ever. There are certain manufacturers that make a specific model just for CW. It is apparently cheaper but CW is so big it can market them and make them attractive to unsuspecting newbies. We have a couple close friends that fell into the CW trap years ago.

I suppose if you found the exact USED travel trailer at some CW and got a really good price it could be okay. I would never purchase any type of extended service plan from them. It has been my experience that they hire anyone off the street to work as service techs and provide them with little or no training.

 

[FL-JOE]

I have questions about purchasing a travel trailer, which is imminent. Pros / cons to new or used. Whether to purchase an extended warranty, and if it’s best to get it from the dealer or a 3rd party? Also, is it advantageous to look for a dealer with many locations throughout country? Thanks!

First off, you can have issues and it doesn't matter if you buy new or used. More times than not you will have less issues is you buy a 2 to 4 year old model compared to a brand new model, but that is not written in stone.

We recently sold one RV and transitioned to another. This is the steps we took and have taken in the past when changing over.

We did a bunch of research online of several manufacturers. In our case we were looking at which manufacturers offered floorplans/models that would fit our needs, then how those manufacturers actually built their units. Once we narrowed it down to a couple manufacturers we dug deeper by visiting owner's forums and other sites to see what their overall quality control record was.

Our next step was deciding what exact model and floorplan we wanted. We had several requirements and several "wants". Once we found a couple floorplans we thought we wanted we located them and toured them in person. Sometimes a floorplan looks great and a perfect "fit" on the computer screen but when you actually walk into it you soon discover it won't work.

Once we found our perfect model and floorplan we simply searched the internet to see what dealers had our unit. We found 3 with the exact interior color we wanted. We drove over 1,100 miles to a Texas dealer to purchase for over 30% off MSRP.

There are two schools of thought on buying from a dealer that far away rather than buying from a dealer close to your home. When you have a warranty issue, like we currently do, you have to find a dealer to take care of it. Believe it or not, that can be difficult. Many dealers will take care of their customers first so sometimes it is hard to get them to even schedule you. Whereas, if you purchase from a local dealer then they will probably take pretty good care of any issues your first year.

Hope some of this helps.

 

[Retired]

I buy private party. RV dealers put on really big markups.

Be careful with private party sales. Most are upside down on a newer unit and just want out of it for what they owe, which is usually more than the value.

If you are looking at 1-2 year old campers, there isnt much difference between new and used price wise at this time. Camper sales are booming. If you find a 1-2-3 year old camper that you like, check the price on the same model that is new. If they are close, you get the manufacturers warranty on a new unit. Beware dealer add-ons, setup fees, paperwork fees ect.

I do not buy warranties. As stated they are a big money maker for both the dealership and the warranty company. They only make money by paying out less than they take in.

As part of the sales pitch they usually show you examples where "Bob" used his warranty and saved thousands on a repair. They dont show you how many claims are denied or how many buyers never filed a claim.